The Dragon Girl

Chapter 9

*Wisteria's P.O.V*

I awoke the next morning at the crack of dawn, in my elven form, to see a man twice my size peering down at me. His face was full of curiosity and his brown skin was covered with thin hair with a beard and long locks of hair on his head. I flinched and almost reached for my sword before this man intervened, "Do not be afraid of me, I was simply curious." I raised an eyebrow, "About what?" The man sat down next to where I was laid, "I was curious as to how you could shift into several forms. I'm a skin changer myself, but I can only turn into a bear." I scoffed jokingly as I sat up, "Yeah, I noticed." The man nodded as he helped me up, "My name is Beorn, what is yours?" I smiled as I brushed the leaves off my light armor, "I'm Wisteria. I should probably head back to-"
"My home, yes." Beorn interrupted me as my eyes widened. "That cottage is your home?" I asked as we started on the short path back to the cottage. Beorn nodded as we neared the front door, "And I know that your company sleeps inside the barn." I blushed slightly, "Sorry about that. We had thought it was uninhabited." Beorn nodded again as he quietly opened the door for me as I slipped inside. As I shut the door and started to thank him, Beorn was already in the kitchen making some sort of breakfast for the company. I shook my head playfully and sat down next to one of the large windows, playing with the two courting braids in my hands. Instinctively, I started to hum a lullaby my mother, Ellrain, would sing to me late at night to get me to sleep.

*Kili's P.O.V*

It wasn't long after I fell asleep after meeting with Ravenna and Aslan that I woke to see the sun blaring through the shaded windows of the cottage. I sat up slowly to see everyone else was still deeply asleep, but not ignoring the soft humming radiating from another room. I got up from the hay stacks and crept as quietly as I could into the main room to see Wisteria in the corner humming some sort of lullaby. She was so entranced by her lullaby that she didn't notice me sit next to her until I nuzzled my head into the crook of her neck. "Morning." I mumble into her neck. She smiled, "Good morning Kili. I'm glad you're alright." I sat up straight again as she turned to face me, "I am as well but, Wisteria, how did you get away from that bear?" She looked behind me and I saw a man almost as tall as the ceiling staring at both of us, "I was that bear Master Dwarf." I gulped awkwardly, "O-Oh. Sorry." The man nodded, "You should let the rest of your company know that breakfast is ready." Wisteria nodded and gestured with her head to the barn, "Go. I'll be here when you get back."

~Time Skip~

*Wisteria's P.O.V*

Before I left my home in Mirkwood, I never expected to see anyone so excited to see me. Once the rest of the company sauntered out of the barn, half of them including Fili barreled into me and nearly squeezed the daylight out of me. "F-Friends, it is great to see you b-but I-I can not breath..." I squeaked out before everyone noticed and backed away immediately. I gestured to the table, which I had set for the huge company, and they dug into Beorn's offerings. When everyone got settled, I saw Bilbo and Gandalf enter the room as I sat down next to Fili and Kili. The conversation remained minimal, due to my small knowledge of Beorn despising dwarves, with Gandalf and Beorn chatting about the quest. "Are there any others like you?" Bilbo asked Beorn as he started serving more fresh milk to us. Beorn sighed as he glanced my way, "Once there were many."

"And now?" Bilbo asked again as Beorn turned around the corner. "The orcs took them and used them for sport. Azog killed my entire family right in front of me. Now, to my knowledge, there are only two skin changers left." Beorn sighed. "Which is why we must go through Mirkwood." Gandalf said as he took the attention off of me and Beorn's lack of ancestry. "A darkness lies upon that forest, and why should I help you if those are dwarves I would be helping?" I tapped my nails on the wooden table anxiously, "You would be helping me as well, in a way." Gandalf looked my way and nodded, "Wisteria has great knowledge of Mirkwood, but we need your assistance to get there." Beorn stood up cradling a white noise in his hands, "I do not like dwarves, they're greedy and think of no one but their own," I winced expecting rejection of assistance but his response startled me, "But I hate orcs more." It wasn't much later that Beorn had granted us the use of his fifteen Clydesdale horses. Once I helped Fili and Kili onto theirs, I mounted one of the two largest horses reserved for me and Gandalf. Before I could kick off and start the journey, Beorn made his way over to me and whispered, "Be careful Wisteria. I don't want to become the last skin changer in Middle Earth." I nodded whilst a smile spread across my face, "I will Beorn. Take care of yourself." He nodded and I kicked my horse to get him going and catch up with the company. Once we reached the gate into Mirkwood, my breathing hitched. I was about to go back into the kingdom I deserted only months ago. Did my family, or what was left of it, miss me? Would they have me banished? I was thrown out of my thoughts when Gandalf almost crossed over the line into my homeland. "Is there no way around?" Bilbo asked. Gandalf shook his head, "Not unless we go two hundred miles north and twice that distance east." He then turned around to face us as we were dismounting our horses, "Let the horses return to their master." I nodded and muttered a few words in elvish to the horses, which made them whinny and begin to trot away. Gandalf then returned to his own, "Not mine! I still need it." Bilbo spun around, "You're leaving us here?" Gandalf shook his head as he gestured to me with his staff, "You have Wisteria, she's the best chance you have getting through Mirkwood." Once everyone looked at me, I felt red flush into my cheeks embarrassed, "She knows Mirkwood. You will be fine. Don't leave the path." Gandalf said as Bilbo talked to him privately for a moment. I gestured for the company to follow me, which they did hesitantly except for Kili and Fili. Once I passed through the entrance, I felt back at home in the woods. Fili and Kili noticed this and asked, "How do you know this place?" I blinked, realizing what I did, and responded, "I have been here several times in my life. My mother and I would visit the Woodlen realm quiet often." Fili nodded but I could feel that the brothers didn't exactly believe me. As we got further into Mirkwood, I could sense that the dwarves were falling under the enchantment of the forest, but not Bilbo for some reason. "There's dwarves in this forest lads.." I heard Bofur mumble drowsily. I then realized one crucial thing, we were off the path. Bilbo looked to me, "Why are they acting like this?" I shook my head, "This forest holds an enchantment that once you get off the path, you can never find it again." Before Bilbo could ask how I knew this, I heard the screeches of Mirkwood spiders. I turned to Bilbo, who was high in the tree and out of my sight. Then one by one, spiders came and took a dwarf, paralyzing them as they went. The last thing I saw was Bilbo rushing down the tree after me as I felt a spider jab its stinger into me.

~Time Skip~

I was woken by falling out of a tree and realizing that I was covered in spider silk. Quickly and efficiently, I unwrapped myself and looked around to see that several of the company was in the same fate as I had been. I called my bow to my side as the rest of the company unwrapped themselves from the silk. Once I heard the screeches again I yelled, "Run!" Everyone got to their feet and blazed in front of me, which made me roll my eyes, and I leapt into one of the nearby trees following the company as a spider cornered them. I drew an arrow only to see my brother Legolas and the guard appear out of nowhere. He slide right in front of Thorin with an arrow drawn and sneered, "Do not think I won't kill you dwarf, it would be my pleasure." Then, seeing that there were several of the guard cornering them all, Thorin accepted defeat for now. It wasn't much afterwards that I heard the cries of Kili, as he was snared by one of the surviving spiders. "Kili!" Fili yelled as my best friend Tauriel burst from the underbrush and killed the spider that snared him and another nearby. I frowned when another spider came close to Kili, which I aimed my arrow to, and he pleaded to her, "Throw me a dagger... Quick!" Tauriel then killed that spider by throwing a dagger into its skull while responding, "If you think I'm going to give you a weapon dwarf, you are mistaken." Kili then looked at her wide-eyed as he was brought back to the company, only to have Legolas give the order to search them all. I smirked as one grabbed several daggers from Fili in multiple places that even I wouldn't look. Another took Thorin's sword, Orcist, and handed it to Legolas as he and Tauriel spoke in elvish. "Are they gone?" Tauriel nodded, "Yes but more will come, they are getting bolder." I felt sorry for Gloin when Legolas interrogated him on the appearance of the pictures of his wife and son. When I thought I couldn't handle it anymore, I leapt down from the tree branch I was on but still staying out of sight. Legolas then addressed Orcist that he held in his hands, "This is an ancient elvish blade, forged by my kin. Where did you get this?" Thorin muttered, "It was given to me." Legolas scoffed, "Not only a thief, but a liar as well. Seize them!" I then decided to make my appearance, "Leave them alone brother!" Everyone then turned to me, all gawking in some form. "Brother?" I heard some of the company gasp, but I didn't focus on them but Legolas. He blinked and then smiled, "Wisteria, you're back. Father was worried his gem had left forever." I scoffed, "Oh spare me from the excuses father as told you to rehearse Legolas. Where are you going to take the company?" Legolas rolled his eyes, "To father of course! And you're coming with me." Before I could object, I felt two guards filter behind me and I sighed, "Fine." I then turned to the company as we advanced, "Whatever happens once we enter the castle, please don't change your opinion of me just yet." When the company nodded, I took the lead along with Legolas and we entered my home. Once we entered the grand gates, I realized in the back of my head that I didn't tell the company about the transformation that would take place. I sighed as I then entered, my leather armor transforming into a gown that glowed like starlight but was as cold as ice. (It's the pic above.) I heard the company gasp behind me as the gown appeared, along with the crown that was made from the finest of gems and the trailing veil from my shoulders, and I didn't turn back to face them either. As we made our way to my father, I saw elves stop and stare at me whispering, "She's back", "Wisteria's home", "The Light of Mirkwood has returned". I lifted my eyes off the ground once I came face to face with the man I feared that I would face on this quest. My father, Thranduil Greenleaf.